It is difficult to diagnose underground problems over the internet, but that has never stopped us before!

1.) Pooling water is much easier to mitigate when the ground is sloped and you have more ground available significantly downslope of the pooling water. In those circumstances, french drains and similar devices can be very effective.

2.) Do you have a pump available for testing? Either a gas-powered trash pump, or an electric sump pump (if the forest pool can be reached with an extension cord). If so, I would test the forest pool before spending a lot of time and effort on a fix. Dig a little sump in the pool when it is dry. After the next rain, pump the pool out. If it pumps down quickly, and remains dry, then it is a depression that collects surface water. If you pump it mostly dry, and then the next morning it is full again, then you have confirmed it is a groundwater pool. (And you have confirmed that you have permeable subsoils in your area, AND that there is water being retained in the pore network at a higher elevation than your forest pool.)

If that is the case, then there is a very good chance that your sump pump is working overtime because there is a lot of groundwater (including your forest pool) that has a hydraulic connection to your foundation.

3.) Conveying any portion of that water farther down the slope can only help your house foundation! You can do perforated drain tile adjacent to your foundation. You could do a hidden project out at the forest pool to drain the groundwater if the property slopes away from that location.

4.) Can you get a soil profile at the forest pool? (Post hole digger, mini-excavator, rambunctious teenagers with a shovel?) If you find sand and gravel down to 4' (for example), and then clay, that indicates how deep you need to cut to convey away the groundwater. You could just cut a 4' deep ditch out of the forest pool to drain the groundwater downslope. It does not have to be straight - it could meander through the trees in your forest so you don't have to cut as many roots.


Just throwing out some ideas. Your eyes on the specific situation will be the best final judge of the optimal solution.

Good luck on your drainage project!

Of course, since it is "Pond Boss", do you have room on your property at a lower elevation than the floor of your basement to create a groundwater pond? That would certainly be an elegant solution!